If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Welcome to the new home of Disney Secrets!
----------------------------------------------------

If you've not yet reset your password, please do so by clicking
Reset Password

1955: Mickey Mouse appears on the cover of this week's TV Guide magazine. (The Mickey Mouse Club is scheduled to air on ABC October 3.)

1971: Almost 10,000 visitors converge near Orlando, Florida, to witness the grand opening of Walt Disney World, which includes the Magic Kingdom - Disney's second theme park, and two resorts.
1972: Nearly 11 million people have visited Walt Disney World since its opening!

1979: Ground is broken for EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World.

1982: EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World has its grand opening with more than 100 television crews from all over the world covering the event. Bands and orchestras play to the huge crowds and Walt Disney's wife Lillian helps in the dedication. EPCOT is an acronym coined by Walt Disney in 1966 meaning Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. It is Disney's third theme park

1986: The second major anniversary celebration, in honor of Walt Disney World's 15th anniversary, begins. Upon arriving at the Magic Kingdom, guests are greeted by a large Mickey Mouse clock in the courtyard area outside of the turnstiles; all the numbers on the clock are 15. Also on this day, the Diamond Horseshoe Revue becomes known as the Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree.

1988: The Caribbean Beach Resort opens at Walt Disney World. Featuring 2,112 rooms, it is the first moderately priced resort on Disney property. The Caribbean is set on 200 acres of land to the south-east of Epcot

2001: Walt Disney World's yearlong celebration, marking the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney's birth, originally scheduled to officially begin today, is put off until December. Low attendance in the parks since the terrorist attacks on September 11th against the U.S., and the current state of the economy are the probable reasons. Although many of the planned events for the celebration are held - the park keeps a low profile.

1971: Peter Pan's Flight opens at Walt Disney World, on the park's third day in business. Based on the 1953 animated film, guests board vessels (attached to rails above) and "soar" over the skies of London

1996: The World of Disney (the world's largest Disney store) opens at Walt Disney World's Village Marketplace in Florida.

Epcot's new IllumiNations 25 officially debuts to the public (although it has been entertaining guests since September).

The Flying Fish Cafe opens at the Boardwalk Resort at Walt Disney World

1982: Fortune magazine features a cover story on Florida's newest theme park - EPCOT Center. An article entitled Disney Gambles on Tomorrow, explains that "The success of Epcot is critical to Disney's future prosperity, for the fabled entertainment company has recently suffered unaccustomed reverses."

1993: Disney World's Mission to Mars attraction, running since June 1975, closes in Tomorrowland. (It will be replaced in 1995 with
ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.)

2006: The Spangler family from Randolph, Ohio spend the morning at Disney World as the Magic Kingdom's only guests! The family of four are the
first big winners of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" celebration

1992: The Walt Disney Story (and attraction on Walt Disney World’s Main Street) is shown for the last time when the Main Street cinema closes. The cinema will be refurbished and reopened as a merchandise location in 1998.

1927: Walt Disney watches the Warner Brothers preview of The Jazz Singer (one of the first films to feature sound) at the Warner Theatre in New York City. Walt realizes that he needs to add audio to his cartoons.

1992: Walt Disney World announces plans to build three resorts - with sports, music, and wilderness themes - that will offer over 4,500 rooms.
The Florida resort also plans to build a new water theme park.

1971: The Disney animated and live-action feature film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks premieres in London, England. (It will be released in the U.S. two months later.)

1990: Legendary animator Myron "Grim" Natwick passes in Los Angeles, California, at age 100. Best known as the creator of the animated character Betty Boop, he also worked on Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

2006: A female giraffe is born at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The calf is the first offspring for her mother, a 9-year-old giraffe named Aibuin

1996: A full-service spa and health center opens at Disney World's Grand Floridian Beach Resort. It will now be called Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

2001: Epcot's Journey into Your Imagination ride closes for renovations. The character Figment will be added and the attraction will reopen in June 2002 as Journey into Imagination with Figment.

2002: Walt: The Man Behind The Myth (originally broadcast on TV in September 2001) is released on DVD

2003: Mickey's PhilharMagic, a new computer-animated 3-D attraction, has its official grand opening in the PhilharMagic Concert Hall at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. Pop idols Howie Dorough of The Backstreet Boys and Joey Fatone of 'N Sync are on hand for the premiere.

Over at Epcot, the Wayne Brady Show tapes at the American Gardens Stage. Guests include tennis star Serena Williams, soap opera heartthrob Cameron Matheson, astronaut Jim Lovell, and members of the original Brady Bunch Show.

In the evening, the Magic Kingdom hosts a live performance of the Brian Setzer Orchestra on the Castle Forecourt stage. Afterwards the park officially debuts a new pyrotechnic show called Wishes. The Disney World premiere includes an introduction by actress Julie Andrews